


Scars

by Whiskey_cokenfanfic23



Category: James Bucky Barnes - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Steve Rogers - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, F/M, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 18:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19796851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whiskey_cokenfanfic23/pseuds/Whiskey_cokenfanfic23





	Scars

_ He was coming closer. _

_ “No… no wait!” You pleaded. _

_ He kept coming closer, despite your pleas. _

_ “Please, don’t! No!” _

Your eyes popped open. You’d had the dream again. You hadn’t been able to sleep really in days. Your dreams, or rather nightmarish memories, had been keeping you from fully falling asleep. You had tossed and turned for the better half of the night, before drifting off fitfully. You sat up in bed, and looked over at your phone to check the time. 2 am. You sighed, it was no good. Untangling and kicking off the covers, you got up and made your way into the kitchen.

You figured maybe a nice hot cup of tea would calm your nerves. You went to the kettle on the stove and filled it with water, then placed it back on the eye of the stove and turned it on. You weren’t aware that you were making much noise, but you were and it woke up the other members of your household.

While you were reaching in the cabinet for your mug, you heard the footsteps of your two roommates coming into the kitchen.

“Y/N, what are you doing up this late?” Steve asked you.

“Yeah, you okay?” That was Bucky.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” You told them without turning around, still trying to reach your favorite mug that had somehow gotten shoved to the back.

“Here,” Bucky said, moving you out of the way and grabbing your mug for you.

“Thanks,” you said taking the mug in your hand and setting it down.

“You sure you’re okay, doll?” Steve asked.

You just nodded and turned back to the counter, opening drawers looking for a spoon and searching for a tea bag.

“It’s just that we heard you talking in your sleep,” Steve continued. “Then all the noise in here.”

“Sorry I woke you up,” you mumbled.

“Don’t even worry about it,” Bucky said quickly. “We’re just concerned, you sounded like you were having a bad dream.”

Just then the kettle whistled. You took it off the stove and you poured the hot water into your mug. You spooned in some sugar and added a bit of honey; busying yourself with the motions, wanting to avoid answering them. When you realized they were still waiting, you finally answered them.

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” you said softly and took your mug and went to take a seat on one of the stools at the island.

You were aware that they were both staring at you with concern on their faces, but you ignored their questioning looks. They said nothing until you crossed your legs and they got a flash of your exposed skin. You were only wearing the big shirt you slept in, so when you crossed your legs, it rode up. 

They stared at your legs for a minute before exchanging glances with each other. You had noticed what they were staring at and quickly pulled your shirt to cover your legs. But it was too late, they had seen.

“Y/N, you wanna talk about that?”

“Bout what?” You feigned ignorance and stirred your tea some more.

“About the scars,” Bucky said, always blunt and to the point.

Steve shot him a look, but didn’t say anything. He came and took a seat across from you.

“Y/N, seriously, if there is something wrong, you can tell us.”

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, I mean, you’re our friend, family really.”

You looked from one concerned face to the other. Steve, sitting in front of you and Bucky, leaning against the counter. You stirred your tea absentmindedly trying to decide if you should tell them. You did trust them, and in the few months that you had been living with them, they had shown that they did care about you. They treated you like their little sister and you felt safe with them. Safer than you had felt in a long time. 

After the incident, you had went to your friend Nat, needing a place to stay. Unfortunately she didn’t have any room, but she had told you that Steve and Bucky did. You had known them, but not that well, but you were desperate. Luckily for you, they were welcoming and they were great roommates; giving you the space you needed. They were clean and courteous. All in all, it was a gigantic step up from your previous situation.

You winced when you thought about it, and of course, ever observant, they noticed.

“Okay,” Bucky said coming over and taking the seat next to you. “Talk.”

“Buck, don’t push her,” Steve chided.

“I’m not, it’s that I can tell something is wrong, I know that look,” he told Steve, then looked back at you. “You’re not doing yourself any favors holding it in.”

“I know.” You looked at your tea and took a sip.

“So…” Bucky prompted.

“So,” you cleared your throat. “Umm, I don’t know where to begin.”

“Just at the beginning,” Steve suggested.

“Right, the beginning…” You shifted in your seat and took a deep breath. “So you know how, Nat asked you guys if I could come stay with you?”

They nodded.

“Well, the reason was this…”

And you told them all of what happened, haltingly at first, but once you got your stride it all came tumbling out.

_ It was almost a year ago and you were in what you thought was a happy, fairytale-esque relationship. The guy was great, there was no doubt about that. He treated you with the utmost respect. But that one night… it all changed.  _

_ You were walking down the street one night, hand in hand with him. Everything about that night you remembered in clear detail. The smell in the air, food from several restaurants you passed; the cool breeze on your skin and the feel of his hand in yours; the sound of his voice when he spoke to you, making a joke and the way your laughter mingled with the sounds of other conversations of the people around you; you even remembered the sound your footsteps made on the pavement. _

_ You had been so happy. _

_ You two had walked past a group of four guys, your hand squeezed his and you ducked your head, not wanting to make eye contact. It was no good, however. The catcalling had started. They were clearly drunk. _

_ “Hey, girl, c’mere!” _

_ “You know you need a real man, lemme talk to you.” _

_ “I know you hear us!” _

_ You kept your head down and kept walking, ignoring them. Until one of them got bold and jumped in front of you, and tried to grab your arm. _

_ “Baby, I know you heard me.” _

_ You shook him off, but he reached for you again. _

_ “Look, we don’t want any trouble guys,” your boyfriend had told them. _

_ The guy had laughed. “You hear this man?” He turned to his friends who laughed with him. “Sounding like a punk! ‘We don’t want any trouble.’” He mocked him. _

_ You tried to grab your boyfriend’s hand again, to pull him away, but the guy was too quick. He pushed you back into his three other friends. You felt two of them grab you. You looked around desperately for help, but there was no one around. You remembered thinking that it was so odd, you had just been surrounded by people ten minutes ago. _

_ The guy who had pushed you into his friends was now in front of your boyfriend.  _

_ “I tell you what, I’m feeling nice tonight, so I’m just gonna take your money and let you go.” _

_ “Give him whatever he wants,” you told your boyfriend.  _

_ “Listen to her,” the guy told him. “Well let you go. Her on the other hand… we need to teach her not to ignore people, it’s rude.” _

_ You felt their grips tighten on your arms. And you started to shake. _

_ “No, please.” _

_ Your boyfriend had decided that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to you, so he swung at the guy, landing a punch. _

_ The next thing you knew, two of the guys let you go, and grabbed your boyfriend, hitting and punching him, then kicking him when he fell to the ground.The main guy had pulled out a knife and and was headed to your boyfriend. _

_ You cried out, and managed to free yourself from the fourth. You tried to jump in between them, and you got a few kicks yourself. You had fell on the ground right when he had slashed at him. You threw your legs up to kick at him, and the knife had cut you in several places. Cutting through your tights into your skin. _

_ One of his friends gabbed your arms and dragged you away. Your boyfriend had fallen unconscious from the attack.  _

_ The one with the knife had turned to you. And all you could do was beg. _

_ “No, please… don’t” _

_ He kept coming closer. _

_ Luckily for you, a group of partygoers was walking past and heard your cries. They ran up and the four attackers scattered. You ran over to your boyfriend trying to shake him awake while they called the police and paramedics…. _

“He was okay, sort of. A few fractured ribs and a broken nose. But his pride… that was the most damaged thing of all.”

You took a deep breath. Telling that story, reliving it, had taken a lot of you. Steve reached across the table and put his hand over yours, Bucky had thrown his arm around your shoulders and given them a squeeze. Feeling comforted from their touches, you felt you could continue.

“They eventually caught the guys, but he… he was never the same. He started drinking, a lot, and we got into fights constantly” You shook your head. “It escalated one day. We were screaming and yelling at each other, throwing stuff.” You took a deep breath. “I started to pack my bags but he wouldn’t let me leave. He had grabbed me, and I slapped him. He pushed me and I hit the wall.”

You let a sob escape then, and you felt Bucky’s arm squeeze your shoulders again.

“Our landlord heard and she managed to get him out. I packed all my stuff and left. That’s when I contacted Nat.”

You looked from Steve to Bucky, tears glistening on your cheeks.

“The dreams… nightmares… I have, they’re of that night. I can’t get them out of my head.”

Steve and Bucky looked at each other.

“We know how that is, Y/N, we both have memories that we can’t get out of our heads.” Bucky told you. 

“Yeah,” Steve added. “But you know what we do? We go to each other, we talk to each other, we help each other through it.”

“And you can do that, too, you know.” Bucky told you. “Me and Steve, we’re here for you. What you just did, telling us that? It was such a big step.”

“Yeah, and when you have those nightmares, you can come to either of us, any time of the night, and we’re here.” Steve said.

Bucky reached over and placing a hand under your chin, lifted your face to his. “Promise, promise us you’ll come to us if you need us.”

You stared into his blue eyes for a minute, you obviously trusted them, you had just told them everything. You nodded slowly.

“Okay, I promise.”

“Good.” He smiled.

“Now, as for tonight,” Steve said getting up and going into the hall closet as Bucky steered you over to the couch. “We’re not leaving you alone.”

“What do you mean?”

Steve came back with some blankets and pillows in his arms and spread them over you as you sat on the couch. Bucky settled on one side of you and Steve the other. 

“We’re gonna hang out here with you.” Steve told you.

“Yep,” Bucky said fishing out the remote from between the cushions. “Watch a little TV and relax.”

You looked at them incredulously. “It’s almost 3:30 in the morning.”

They both just shrugged. 

“Like Steve said, we’re not leaving you alone.” Bucky told you. 

You knew it was pointless to argue, so you settled back and watched the show Bucky had stopped on. Soon you felt your eyelids getting heavy and you found yourself leaning your head against Steve, while he and Bucky talked in low tones. You soon drifted off into the first peaceful sleep you’d had in months. Your burdens gone. 


End file.
